Planetary romance – the Hero and the romance

Here we are, finally to discuss the main drive of this subgenre. The romance, the ever-complicated love story between the hero and some inhabitant of the new planet. It was and it is a pivotal key to the main plot and the source of too many similar subplots, usually motivated by the presence one or more rival. It is also the main factor directed to a larger audience, usually not attracted by sci-fi stories. In the canon, we have the hero, his/her love interest (usually an important member of a local society) and an antagonist (again, some local VIP); can we do anything against the canon? Or this part of the plot simply couldn’t be modified?

Planetary romance – the journey of the Hero

One of the key moments in the genre is the arrival of the hero in the new planet; it’s a well-oiled plot device and gives way to a number of actions that will set the pace for the novel. After the arrival, our hero will need to quickly adapt to the new world and discover his/her role in the local society (start of the main quest). In the classic works of the genre, the journey is usually something worth a few lines of description and, optionally, some mumbo-jumbo in a pseudoscientific tone. The same happens for the return of the hero, where the mysterious phenomenon that connects Earth and the new planet is set to work backward – usually after a secondary quest dedicated to retrieving one or more useful objects to make it work.

Planetary romance – the Hero and the local civilization

In the previous post (here) I’ve promised to write about the possible results of the arrival of our imaginary hero on the new planet. This is about the basic tropes of this sub-genre and the choice to turn up the dial, in order to get some more from this kind of narrative.

Planetary romance – the Hero and the Environment

Of the many sub-genres of science fiction and fantasy, I’ve to say that planetary romance is one of my favorite since the first time I read the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was far younger back then, less prone to analyze plot and development of such works, but the “magic” of that novels still works for me, even after many years. Planetary romance is little more than a label, applied to a variety of very different works. That said, it will be pretentious to craft an absolute definition of this sub-genre. I will use this post to state some of the ideas that I get about the main tropes, hoping to raise some question and sparkle a bit of interest in it.

Under a new sky – epilogue

Note: this is a work of fiction, with all the usual stuff about copyright and permission. It’s also a work in progress and a way to develop my knowledge of the english language. So feel free to correct, debate, laugh, ask about it in the comments. Help appreciated.

You may find the index here.

Epilogue.

Now you know that Howard managed to get back on our planet.

What you still do not know is that he returned to Zeranta as soon as possible, with as many useful stuff he could transport with him. You see, for him there is very little left on our planet. His family was already gone and with his “death” every tie with friends and comrades in the US Army was gone too.

Under a new sky – chapter 24

Note: this is a work of fiction, with all the usual stuff about copyright and permission. It’s also a work in progress and a way to develop my knowledge of the english language. So feel free to correct, debate, laugh, ask about it in the comments. Help appreciated.

You may find the index here.

Chapter twenty-four.

It took almost four years to get this opportunity. Even with the full power of two AI like OmniPlan and SIMCU the amount of data to be calculated was huge, with a slight but unnerving error margin to keep everybody nervous. OmniPlan recorded every high-energy event since its deployment on the Zeranta’s surface, SIMCU did the same from space following its original program. With their combined one-thousand year old mass of data and the results of the OmniPlan’s training program with all the interviews of more than two thousand Terrans we could set in motion a try to develop a mathematical model of the time-space relations between Earth’s surface and Zeranta’s. My little GPS unit, useless here without its net of satellites, was of great help with the thousands of waypoints I’ve recorded in the last few years on Earth while on duty for the US Army. No way to complain if anything goes SNAFU.

Under a new sky – chapter 23

Note: this is a work of fiction, with all the usual stuff about copyright and permission. It’s also a work in progress and a way to develop my knowledge of the english language. So feel free to correct, debate, laugh, ask about it in the comments. Help appreciated.

You may find the index here.

Chapter twenty-three.

Halkan’s army was on the move. Losing his tactical advantage with the destruction of his cavalry regiment was too much for the prince to hold on to his own battle plan. So they were retreating, heading back south and keeping formation at regiment level to hold King Harkoon’s heavy cavalry at bay. They were following the course of the river, both to secure a flank and to have an easy access to water. Harkoon’s army was still near the capital, it looked like the king was more than happy to avoid a major battle. Small groups of explorers were tracking the progress of the rebels, maybe somebody was hoping to return to “status quo ante” . I did not agree.

Short after dawn I was already on the opposite side of the river, running at top speed to reach the vanguards of the rebels. Halkan was escorted by a small group of armored riders, some kind of honor guard for the wannabe king. As I spotted him a good part of his soldiers already got me in their crosshairs, my guess was that the tale of the missing regiment was more than enough to keep their attention focused. They tried to got me with hundreds of arrows, a good part of them steel-tipped. I was too far from them to be worried about it but it was strange for me to see an entire army react to a single enemy. What I had to do was to take my chances and jump to the other side of the river, my will to revenge was overwhelming.

Under a new sky – chapter 22

Note: this is a work of fiction, with all the usual stuff about copyright and permission. It’s also a work in progress and a way to develop my knowledge of the english language. So feel free to correct, debate, laugh, ask about it in the comments. Help appreciated.

You may find the index here.

Chapter twenty-two.

At dawn I was a few yards from the river, Keller sent ten of his best warriors with me for cover. Moving at night was a sort of a LSD trip, with Omniplan holograms that popped up here and there for a few seconds. I noticed that its expressions were still of great pain but there was less alternation between male and female figures. Maybe it was already integrating its personalities.

After my transformation I leapt over the river, landing ten yards from a guarding post of the King’s troops. Then I run like the Devil, circling the northern part of the capital before sprinting to the west direction. My hope was to avoid detection from Halkan observers and to get his cavalry in the open, before they could start an organized attack to the town or in the direction of the refugees. I had no clue about the whereabouts of that regiment, nor I had any information about their organization. Once again, it was all about hope. In our plan if I didn’t find them by noon I had to jump as fast as I could in the north direction in order to avoid a confrontation after sunset.

Under a new sky – chapter 21

Note: this is a work of fiction, with all the usual stuff about copyright and permission. It’s also a work in progress and a way to develop my knowledge of the english language. So feel free to correct, debate, laugh, ask about it in the comments. Help appreciated.

You may find the index here.

Chapter twenty-one.

The Omniplan crisis was in full effect, leaving both armies with no information at all about their enemies. For Zeranta it was the dawn of a new era of warfare. For ten centuries their field battles were all about fast tactical moves developed when already in contact, the only way to overcome the constant flow of informations about enemy’s movements. For what Kellan told me in their chronicles full scale battles has been no more than five in the past, every king of their history avoided such confrontations without a real superiority by his side. This time was much different. King Harkoon and Prince Halkan got about ten thousand fighters each, both armies got strong and weak points. Loyalist had a heavy cavalry regiment, rebels a regiment of light equipped cavalry. Loyalist got some catapults at hand near the capital, rebels didn’t have none. Halkan lost his wild card, the “ghost” unit, and Harkoon lost the choice to use me against his son. The old king was right, there were all the conditions for a bloodbath like never before on Zeranta.

Under a new sky – chapter 20

Note: this is a work of fiction, with all the usual stuff about copyright and permission. It’s also a work in progress and a way to develop my knowledge of the english language. So feel free to correct, debate, laugh, ask about it in the comments. Help appreciated.

You may find the index here.

Chapter twenty.

After sunset I settled myself in the living quarters, near that crystal. The black hologram from the HRC Constellation disappeared after a while and the female version of OmniPlan didn’t came back. I ate my bread in silence, glad to have some spare time to think. Whoever built those machines knew his business for sure. After one thousand years all of them were still running. I fell asleep for a few hours only to awake short before dawn. The SIMCU hologram was back.

“There are no other HRC ships in this solar system. Please motivate your presence here.”